MINING: Coal Mole

At a mine of the Sunnyhill Coal Co. near New
Lexington, Ohio one day last week, amazed mine experts watched a huge
(26-ton) machine in action. With surprisingly little noise, it tore
into a seam, spewed a continuous stream of coal into a truck that
followed. Within a minute and a half, the five-ton truck was almost
full; in that time the machine had come close to the average U.S.
production per man-day (around five tons). The machine's lone operator
apologized because it had taken so long; he was running the digger at
slow speed.